Manny Pacquiao and the truth about steroids

I believe Paulie Malignaggi once said he would bet everything he owned that Manny Pacquiao was on something. Now I love Paulie and everything he has accomplished in the sport but I would take that bet in a heartbeat. Why am I so sure Manny has always been clean? People that think Manny has used performance enhancing drugs don’t understand Asian culture. They are a lot less likely to put anything harmful in their bodies than Americans. It is also considered dishonorable to your country to win by cheating. Many Americans don’t understand this because they have a win at all cost mentality.

Lets look at how many American athletes have been proven to have PED’s in their systems at one point in their careers. Sugar Shane Mosley, Barry Bonds, James Toney, Ben Johnson, Mark McGwire, Roy Jones Jr., Marion Jones, Alex Rodriguez etc. Now name me an Asian born athlete that has been caught using Roids. The only guy I can think of is that kick boxer in the movie “Ong Bak” that injected himself with something before fighting Tony Jaa. It’s also no coincidence that African-Americans top the list of known steroid users. Again it’s not about race but I believe the pressure on blacks in America to succeed in sports would push them to get an edge.

You can also argue they make up the majority of athletes in professional sports in America so of course their names will come up more often. But what about the Olympics where USADA tests every country. Asia has to send their own to compete and I can’t really think of any Asian athletes that were tested positive. I know China had the age scandal but that has nothing to do with injecting something in your body to improve performance. However, I do know Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson and US gold medalist Marion Jones were stripped of their medals for steroid use. Even during the steroid scandal in baseball not ONE Asian player came out on any list even though there are a substantial amount of Asian baseball players.

So based on historical facts shouldn’t we be more suspicious of Floyd Mayweather Jr. than Manny Pacquiao? After all Floyd competed in the Olympics for the American boxing team. I read recently Mayweather Sr. made some statements saying his son would never fight Manny Pacquiao because Manny would have had time to clean his system out since their last negotiations. But then what was the point of fighting and testing Mosley? It’s been over a year since his last fight that’s more than enough time to clean himself out. Floyd has almost every advantage including reach and height so I don’t understand why they are making such a fuss over this drug testing. And also how do we know that Floyd didn’t use anything prior since this is his first time testing under USADA rules in the pro ranks?

If I had to bet everything I own on why Manny Pacquiao is agreeing to the tests now instead of earlier this year, it is because of his recent elections. I think his team knew a loss to Floyd Mayweather would hurt his chances at being elected to a congressional seat. I knew once that was out-of-the-way Manny would do everything he can to make this fight happen. Now the ball is in Mayweather’s court and my guess is that it will come down to a money issue.

As an American, I know that as great of a country we live in, we can also sometimes be the biggest hypocrites. We love to point out problems of others while ignoring our own problems. Before we accuse others we should look at our own athletes and wonder why fighters from other countries haven’t demanded our own boxers to undergo advanced testing.

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